I had a Halloween outfit, but my teammates were like, “Don’t wear it because we lost the first game. When we win tonight you can wear the outfit.” I had a Sho’nuff outfit from The Last Dragon. I had the wig, the mustache, the sunglasses. I had it specially made to fit me. For those who don’t know, Sho’nuff was the villain, he was like the big tall black guy … “Who’s the man??” “Sho’nuff!” Ha. So if any of you haven’t seen The Last Dragon, you’ve GOT to go see it. This dude is like the ghetto version of Bruce Lee but he’s called Bruce Leroy and Sho’nuff was like the bad guy, like the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of it. And then, matter of fact, the lady from the Cosbys was The Last Dragon’s girlfriend! Bill Cosby’s wife from The Cosby Show! And I was like, Wow, I did not know that was her at first!

But I didn’t get a chance to wear that costume. I had two outfits I wanted to wear on Halloween and I’m upset we had a game on Halloween because I really wanted to go out. My OTHER outfit was Tyrone Biggums. I know a lot of people watch The Chappelle Show. Tyrone Biggums was the little guy on the show with the powder lips always drinking this stuff called Red Balls. “Red Balls, they give you wings!!” If you’ve never seen Tyrone Biggums, you’ve got to get the first season of The Dave Chappelle Show. He’s on there and they were doing The Fear Factor, it was hilarious. So I had both of those outfits and I’d been planning it for like a month and a half, and I didn’t even get a chance to wear them

On the Playa from the Himalayas:

We were in Memphis, I have to tell this story … We were going to eat, me and my teammates, we were walking back on Beale Street and this one guy, he was like 5-9, 5-10 and he was built like an action figure, all ripped up and everything. And he was doing flips for money … all he was doing was running up and down the street doing flips. He’s got a bowl in the middle and everybody’s just watching him doing flips. And then, we’re walking back to the hotel, we almost get there and there was this other dude, he was calling himself the Playa from the Himalayas and he was dancing his butt off, he’s dancing, moving, I don’t know what he was doing, and he was all yelling, “I’m the Playa from the Himalayas!” He was like Jerome from Martin — “Jeromey Rome!!” — that’s who he was like! I’m like “Man, look at this dude!” I got it on film, so when DwightHoward.com gets up and running that’s gonna be one of my first videos … The man from Memphis, he’s walking the dog, doing the superman. It was crazy.

Okay, just one more before I end up posting the whole thing:

My teammate … with no neck
My teammates are cool. I love my teammates. I love ‘em. Our new vet, he’s the best. Anthony Johnson. I said last time, but we call him ‘Little Neck Johnson.’ We were in Memphis, Tennessee last week and before the game … I thought I would never see the day that I saw someone that had literally no neck. We thought Anthony Johnson had no neck, but this dude right here, oh my God! Like, if he had a mock turtleneck shirt on, it would have come up to his nose. And I’m like, Anthony Johnson ain’t got no neck, but at least he can wear mock necks. And this dude, his shoulders were at his ears. He was telling everybody. “Hey, yo, playas don’t go that way, come back this way!” And you can imagine somebody talking with their shoulders, I’m like, “Dude, relax your shoulders, man, chill out!” But he couldn’t do it, he didn’t have no neck!

He also talks about some real stuff like how it affects him when hometown fans boo and how great it was for him to take some kids to Toys R’ Us for the first time. Plus, there’s some decent anti-Skip Bayless material, which is always nice.

Just go read the whole thing.

I will never forgive you for not letting this happen, Dwight Howard's teammates.

Given the scandalous reasons that the position is now open, I suppose anyone would be an upgrade, but Bing’s law enforcement platform and history of promoting development are both top priorities for MoTown, which is routinely named the most dangerous U.S. city.

“Detroit needs a leader who will end corruption and reestablish trust in city government,” said Bing, a former Detroit Piston. “We need a mayor with integrity and a person who has no hidden agendas. Our next mayor must have a proven record of making tough decisions during tough times. We need a fighter who will stand up for our city and our people.”

Says one local on Bing:

“He’s building stuff right here in the city,” she said. “I remember when we didn’t have anything around here but abandoned houses.”

Though Bing, a Hall of Famer and with career averages of 20 ppg, 6 asp and 4 rpg, has largely been forgotten by most, he was known as a devastating scorer, who in his sophomore NBA campaign in 1967-68 (he had won Rookie of the Year the previous season) outdid Wilt and Elgin to lead the League in scoring, something no guard had done in 20 years.

He would later suffer a debilitating eye injury, but continued to play at a high level regardless, making seven All Star teams during his career. More importantly, he showed a commitment to community early in his career and made a real impression on his peers.

At Bing’s 1990 election to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Oscar Robertson introduced his longtime rival, saying, “Dave is the perfect example of professionalism, class, dignity, and humanity. He cares. He gets involved with the world.”

With no other logical way to end this post I asked former Funky Bunch front man for his take on Bing’s campaign: “Say hello to ya mother for me,” said Mark Wahlberg.

Three Piston guards made the NBA Top 50 Players of All Time: Dave Bing, Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars

…is what a cynic would say about the promotional videos for the new Hibachi, Superman, TMac, Groundhog Day and KG movie making the NBA blogosphere rounds today.

But ultimately, this whole concept is stellar and you can’t help but be excited for the kids featured in this “Basketball is a Brotherhood” production. They were apparently selected without knowledge of what they were getting into and ended up getting flown around the country to kick it and ball with a bunch of future Hall of Famers (plus Gilbert…sorry dude). Then again, this might all be solely a calculated marketing ploy starring child actors designed to hoodwink us unsuspecting consumers. If so, well done, corporate overlords.

And regardless, the three videos are likely worth the next 10-15 minutes of your life. (via Ball Don’t Lie and Fanhouse.) Here are the links to all three:

At one point, one of the homeless dudes told Starbury “I see you doing well in the sixth-man role.”

Will Brinson of FanHouse, however, has broken the story that the new Knick coach may disregard this counsel.

Marbury is firmly on the comeback trail right now. (I think he’s comeback material, right?) Nine points on three for three shooting with six assists for the point guard last night and word on the street is that Jamal Crawford is heading to the bench. So clearly Mike D’Antoni doesn’t listen to the homeless.

Along with its fresh redesign, The Atlantic did a nice little write up on KJ’s mayoral campaign in his hometown Sacramento, where he narrowly won a June election over fellow democrat and incumbent Mayor Heather Fargo (and five others). A run-off vote to determine the victor will be held on November 4 between Fargo and KJ, who was a poli-sci major at Cal-Berkely “who passed the long hours of [NBA] travel reading books and policy papers while his teammates played cards and video games.”

KJ has nobly devoted his post-NBA career being a “community organizer,” most notably establishing the St. Hope Academy, a nonprofit education organization that has since turned Sacramento High into a charter school. According to the article, his penchant for this work and the beginnings of his political aspirations began during his playing days.

Even as his NBA career progressed, Johnson became fluent in the language of policy entrepreneurs, salting his conversation with terms like ‘holistic community development’ and ‘personalized learning.’ A born networker, he traded on his celebrity to meet business and political luminaries wherever he traveled.

When he retired from the Phoenix Suns, in 2000, both the Republicans and the Democrats asked him to run for governor of Arizona. Johnson demurred, choosing instead to put into practice what he’d learned about the power of business to transform urban areas.

Good luck, KJ. May I suggest that this be the only campaign advertisement you run?

And I’m not familiar with his policies, but if his executive leadership skills are anywhere even nearly as good as his Dream impersonation skills, Sacto will be in good hands.